Why George Pell dined with under-fire EPA's Scott Pruitt in secret

New York: Cardinal George Pell has emerged as a mystery guest who dined at a lavish Rome restaurant with embattled US environmental chief Scott Pruitt to secretly plan a public debate challenging climate change.

The five-star rooftop dinner, which came three weeks before Pell was charged with historic child sexual abuse, was deliberately removed from four different public schedules released by Pruitt's offices due to the allegations hanging over the Vatican financial chief, it has emerged.

Cardinal George Pell

The extraordinary revelations not only add another twist in the tale of the American environmental administrator under fire for excessive spending and dubious ethics, but also pit Pell squarely against the Pope, who has declared that climate change is real.

Pruitt, the administrator of the US Environmental Protection Agency, is the subject of 11 separate investigations into his lavish travel habits, conflicts of interests and management practices.

He has been accused of giving unauthorised raises to employees he liked, leasing a Washington apartment for a heavily-discounted rate from a lobbyist, building a $US43,000 ($57,000) soundproof booth in his office, spending $US45,000 on a trip to Australia that never eventuated and requesting to travel in a car with lights and sirens because he was late to dinner.

Recently, it emerged that he took a two-day trip to Rome in June last year and spent $US120,000 with his team, including a dinner with aides at La Terrazza.

On the rooftop of the five-star Hotel Eden, La Terrazza boasts of "spectacular views" of Rome and "exquisite" menu of smoked lobster with wild black rice and pigeon de Bresse. With a set menu starting at $240 a head, it is known as a hotspot for wining and dining Italian businessmen and politicians.

However, a series of documents obtained by the New York Times on Friday under freedom of information show that one of Pruitt's guests at the dinner on June 9, 2017 was Cardinal Pell.

It appears Pruitt set up the dinner with Pell weeks earlier as part of his efforts to stage a debate between opposing climate change academics.

"Dinner with Cardinal Pell and others," one email quoted by The Times says. "Note: His 76th birthday is tomorrow."

It was publicly known at the time that Pell was under investigation for sexual abuse (he has since been committed to stand trial and denies the allegations) and his presence at the dinner was left off four different schedules released by Pruitt's office.

Emails obtained by the New York Times under Freedom of Information detailing a Rome dinner attended by Scott Pruitt and George Pell.Credit:NYT

An EPA spokesman said on Saturday that Pruitt did not know of the allegations against Pell. However, Kevin Chmielewski, Pruitt's former deputy chief of staff for operations, told the New York Times that EPA officials deliberately left Pell off printed schedules as they feared it would reflect poorly on Pruitt if it became public.

"It was a no-brainer," Chmielewski said.

Among more than 20,000 pages of schedules, emails and other documents released to the Times is an email from Pruitt's aide Samantha Davis sent during the La Terrazza dinner.

She asked for a copy of a Wall Street Journal article by New York professor Steven Koonin which had brought the idea of a so-called "red team-blue team" climate change debate to prominence.

"I am at dinner with Cardinal Pell and Mr Pruitt," Dravis wrote to a Vatican official. "They discussed this article. Can you print a copy for His Excellency?"

The schedules reveal that Leonard Leo, executive vice president of the Federalist Society, a conservative organisation that promotes limits on federal regulations, was also a guest at the dinner.

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Another email reveals that Pell was going to give Pruitt a private tour of the Vatican Apostolic Palace but it didn't eventuate.

His presence at the dinner is likely to raise eyebrows in the Vatican following Pope Francis' declaration in 2015 that the science is "clear" and climate change is a "moral issue that must be addressed in order to protect the Earth".

Francis said last year that "history will judge" climate change deniers.

Pope Francis addresses a joint meeting of US Congress in 2015 on issues closest to his heart: income inequality, immigration and climate change. Credit:Bloomberg

Despite leading the US' top environmental agency, Pruitt has also refused to acknowledge that carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel burning is a driver of global warming.

Pruitt's so-called "red team-blue team" is one of the more bizarre proposals to come out of his EPA tenure. Many in the climate science community said such a debate was unnecessary because of the copious studies concluding that man-made climate change is real. Scientists also have many of forums, such as academic journals and conferences, to debate ideas.

Ultimately, after months of organising and going back and forth with various climate sceptics, the White House stepped in and shut down the idea.

Jahan Wilcox, an EPA spokesman, issued a statement confirming the June 9 meeting took place and emphasising that it "was not a private one-on-one dinner".

He also said the EPA did not know Pell would be attending the dinner.

On Thursday, White House spokesman Raj Shah said US President Donald Trump was still "pleased with the job that [Pruitt] is doing as the administrator".